Service records, why is Carfax report incomplete?

Asked by JCK2021 Mar 05, 2021 at 06:53 PM about the Toyota Tundra

Question type: Maintenance & Repair

I'm looking for a high mileage vehicle, and when I look for them on CarGurus
and request the Carfax report and look through it, I can't find where things like
Transmission work or brake work were done, why is that?  Is it required that
repair shops document repair work tied to the VIN, or is that just an option?  In
many of these cases I just want to know if transmission was at some point
rebuilt/replaced, if so I'd feel better about buying.

4 Answers

Not all shops report maintenance and repairs to CF.

2 people found this helpful.
41,110

If you don't see it, always assume the work to not be done. Having a mechanic look the truck over for you before purchasing is always better than relying on a report that is incomplete.

1 people found this helpful.
157,465

Repair facilities are not required to report to any vehicle history report companies, such as carfax, for example. Plus if the owner does their own work that won't be on the carfax report. If you're looking at vehicles older than a 1995 model the carfax report will be spotty. The carfax report for my 1993 Caprice shows when I bought it on October 16, 1993. Then absolutely nothing until January of 2000. That's because the Chevy Dealer didn't start reporting to carfax until January of 2000. Hope that helps! Jim

1 people found this helpful.

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